From Political Rival to Top Cabinet Position.

It is all but official that New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton will become the next Secretary of State under the incoming Obama-Biden Administration. Clinton, who is seen by many as the leading rival of Obama within the Democratic Party, now is taking a huge step over political stubbornness and is accepting a position. Although highly coveted, this position will take her away from the political stage which she has grown to love. Many have argued that the Democratic Party is currently split in two. One group being the strong supporters of Obama who are among all age groups within the party, but with a large majority being those under the age of 45.  While group two are strong supporters of Clinton. The demographic makeup for Clinton supporters are those more mature in age and more women tend to support Clinton.  Supporters of both Obama and Clinton have been mixed in their reviews of this next phase in the Clinton/Obama saga. It seems that the majority of not only Democrats, but Americans as a whole, view Clinton’s rise to the head of the State Department as a good choice.

However, there are some who are very skeptical of this rumored pick. There are some Obama supporters who were very angered by the campaign run by Clinton during the primary season and did not wish to see her attaining a top level position in the Obama Administration. While they understand the reasoning that Obama is picking a “Team of Rivals,” they feel with Clinton at the helm of the State Department she will slowly but surely begin to create her own foreign policies and will push back against the orders from the Oval Office as much as she will follow those orders. With Clinton being married to former President Bill Clinton, his foundation donor lists being in question during the primary season, there are some who would question Hillary’s motivation while working with those international officials who have been major financial backers of her husband.  Then you have those supporters of Clinton who are excited to see their preferred presidential candidate rising to a high level position and they wonder if this choice was all but political. With Clinton being the top rival of Obama’s supporters, many have been quietly murmuring that this choice removes her from the political scene, and that all Obama is doing with the creation of his “Team of Rivals” is to ensure that he is the only leader within his party. They feel this move is to ensure that Clinton remains a strong supporter of Obama’s and is unable to create any new whirlwind that she may decide to run again during the 2012 election (this is of course contingent on the fact that Clinton remains Secretary of State for Obama’s entire first term).

One must also consider what will be the role of a Vice President Biden, who was during the general election, a strength for Obama in terms of foreign policy. Now with Clinton at the head of the State Department, what will this mean to Biden who has vowed to be an integral part of the foreign policy strategies as the issues may arise. This however seems to be far from reality with Clinton in control of the State Department. One thing is clear about Clinton, and that is simple, she is a leader and if she is taking the post at the State Dept. it will have been made clear that she will run the department without much input from Biden unless the orders come from the Oval Office.

Who really knows what this decision will actually mean to President-Elect Obama or Senator Clinton. It is certain that from the outset this seems to be a positive joint venture and will bring the celebrity cabinet that Obama desires.

Today is a good day

I’m sure that I’m not the only one who was upset with the preliminary Senate results this year. Sure, the Democrats did great, but Ted Stevens was winning in Alaska. Convicted felon/Senator Ted “The Internet Is A Series of Tubes” Stevens was getting re-elected.

Today though, the final results have come out, and Ted Stevens has lost the Alaska Senate race. By just a few votes, Democrat Mark Begich has won a seat in the Senate. This makes Stevens the longest serving senator to lose re-election. Save for an end to corruption, and Joe Lieberman admitting he isn’t a Democrat, this is the best thing that could possibly happen to the Senate this election season.

Goodbye Senator Stevens. You will not be missed.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtOoQFa5ug8[/youtube]

Hello From Ben

Hello Everyone my name is Ben and I am a youth blogger.

I am 22 years of age and I currently reside in Michigan. I am a recent graduate of the University of Detroit Mercy ascertaining my Bachelor’s in Political Science. I have been working in the field of politics since 2005 when I had the opportunity to be the personal intern for Hansen Clarke when he ran for Mayor of the City of Detroit. From that campaign and through the guidance of Michigan Senator Hansen Clarke I was able to find my passion and what made me love politics so much.
I love the campaigning and the entire election process. With this years historic election I knew early on during the primary season that I wanted to be involved. I had the amazing opportunity to work in Dayton, Ohio at the headquarter office interning for the Obama for America campaign. Once I finished my undergraduate education I spent the summer interning in London, England for the Liberal Democratic Party. I worked at the headquarter office of the national party and had the chance to go out into the British countryside to work on a by-election for an empty seat in Parliament.
When I returned from London I was at a place of uncertainty because I was not sure if going to graduate school quickly was the best decision. I ultimately decided to take time off from schooling to get more real world job experience. Since making that decision I, along with one of my good friends Dave decided to start a youth political blog called The Youth Movement where we along with friends and fellow bloggers bring a voice to young people who are politically active and passionate, but because of the lack of representation in the national media and the more famous and popular blogs we feel that our voice as young people is not being heard. Instead of allow our voice not to be heard we have sought to create a platform of our own to ensure that we have a voice. I am glad to have the opportunity to blog on Think Youth and look forward to the discussions and debates that will transpire here.

Ben

Equality for All

On the issue of gay marriage, equality must come before faith, and gay marriage should be legal. Proposition 8, which recently passed in the state of California, is a violation of the freedoms that all Americans should wish to enjoy.

Think Youth welcomes all point of views from all types of Democrats and Progressives. We realize that the Democratic Party is a big tent, but the views expressed in the post ‘California Says No Again: Are Blacks to Blame?’ are strictly the views of the writer.

Thank You

Koko Chassid

Dan Solis

Change.gov: Follow our Commander-in-Chief’s Path to change

CLICK HERE

For the first time in a long time, progressives have complete control. We can now put into place all the things that we have been talking about year after year after year.  There can be no excuses now, only solutions.  Follow Obama’s path to change above at his new website: www.change.gov

Florida, Arizona, and uh California!? ban same sex marriage

What a shocking disappointment. The numbers look too far gone. California has decided to actually change the state constitution to ban gay marriage. Shouldn’t we be focusing on more important things?

Florida and Arizona also voted to ban same sex marriage, and the state of Arkansas voted to stop homosexuals from adopting children.

Update, 11/5/08: The same sex marriages that have already been established in the state of California will most likely still be valid and legal because they took place during a time in which they were legal.

But, a San Francisco Attorney plans to take the case to the state Supreme Court in hopes of overturning the decision as unconsitutional.

What Made the Difference Tonight: Youth Turnout

Barack Obama knew something a lot of us didn’t know. He knew that young Americans wanted to find something to vote for and not against. At the beginning, many of us were skeptical of youth voter turnout. But, he proved us wrong on that Iowa night in January.

Like Obama said, the campaign took him from “the rocky coast of Maine to the sunshine of California.” All across America young people came out and supported change.

It led him to November on the night of this historic presidential election. Young people supported Barack Obama 68-30% over Senator John McCain. Young people ages 18-29 made up 18% of the electorate this year, slightly higher than 17% in 2004 and 2000. That may not seem like a large increase, but in a year where overall voter turnout reached massive numbers (estimates place overall voter turnout at around 60%) it sure made the difference.

It was the young voters who won tonight. Those that supported one specific candidate, President-elect Barack Obama.

President-elect Barack Obama

How Hillary Helped

I think Hillary deserves just a little credit for Obama’s win tonight. Just a little. She motivated many of her supporters such as myself to support Barack Obama for president. She moved faster than any loser in a Democratic primary to endorse and campaign for their opponent. And surely Hillary and Bill’s campaigning in states like Ohio, Florida, and Pennsylvania helped Barack Obama.

Looking back, I think we can say that the lengthy Democratic primary was part of Obama’s success. His national infrastructure that was created to beat Hillary Clinton has been used to defeat John McCain. His debate performances against Hillary taught him how to face off in a real debate.

CNN reported that Obama won Hillary supporters 84% to John McCain’s 15% tonight. Thank You Hillary.

Who will replace tonight’s winners in the Senate?

Joe Biden might win two elections tonight. One for the vice-presidency, and the other for his Senate seat, which he has already won tonight.

Some of the name’s floating around for Barack Obama’s Senate seat are Jesse Jackson Jr., the son of Jesse Jackson, Rahm Emanuel, an already influential leader in the House, Jean Schakowsky also from the House, longtime Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, and former congressional candidate Tammy Duckworth.

Joe Biden’s replacement could be just a temporary one until his son Beau Biden could run for the Senate seat himself in 2010.

As for Senator John McCain, the Democratic Governor in Arizona, Janet Napolitano, has the option to appoint anyone she wants as long as they are a Republican. So, she could not appoint herself.

Another twist in all of this: If current Alaskan Senator and convicted felon Ted Stevens wins his Senate seat and is ousted by the Senate leadership, Governor Sarah Palin could be appointed to Senator Palin. You Betcha!

Update, 11/5/08: Let me make this clear. The only way Governor Palin can be Senator Palin is if she resigns her spot as Governor of Alaska and then the new Governor, who would be Sean Parnell, would then appoint Palin to the Senate spot.

100,000 Strong For Obama

Last night I was at the Obama rally in Mananas where 100,000 people showed up to see Barack Obama at his last campaign stop. This morning I was voting, and this afternoon I was volunteering.

The volunteering was perhaps the most interesting part, for one both the Republican and Democratic volunteers were all talking and laughing together (I wonder if the McCain people were actually paid). However the election officers let is slide when Republicans campaigned closer than 40 feet to the polls, but when a Democrat got to close it was back to the 40 foot rule.

An election worse than 2000?

With Barack Obama drawing large majorities of votes from big states such as California and New York, and getting closer than most Democratic candidates before him in states in the South, can Barack Obama win the popular vote, but lose the electoral college?

In 2000, Al Gore suffered from low voter turnout. The state of Florida was only determined by 537 votes, and as we all know, Florida gave the election to Bush. If Barack Obama gets close enough to McCain in southern states like Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia, but doesn’t manage to get enough votes to actually win the state, he could end up with more votes than John McCain. High voter turnout in blue states will not reflect in the electoral college in favor of Obama, these votes will just pad his popular vote.

Perhaps this will never happen, or maybe this is McCain’s last chance. Let’s see what happens.

2008 Election Results!

Madelyn Dunham’s vote will count

Barack Obama’s grandmother Madelyn Dunham passed away yesterday. She was able to vote early by absentee ballot due to her illness. The Hawaii Board of Elections has said that her vote, along with the others, will in fact be counted tonight when the polls close in Hawaii at 11 pm ET.

It will be interesting to see what Barack Obama has to say about her in his speech tonight.

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